gavin



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. B. GAVIN.

GRADING AND DITGHING MACHINE.

No. 394,535. Patented Dec. 11, 1888.

(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 2.

J. B. GAVIN. GRADING AND DITGHING MACHINE.

No. 394,535. Patented Dec. 11, 1888.

N Q Q Q mll UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN B. GAVIN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR 'IO FREDERICK C. AUSTIN, OF SAME PLACE.

GRADING AND DITCHING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 394,535, dated December- 1 1, 1888.

Application filed May 21, 1888. Serial No. 274,599. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN B. GAVIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago,

' in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,

have invented certain new and useful Im provements in Grading and Ditching Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to grading and ditching machines of the kind in which the plowedup soil is carried to a point proper for its discharge by an endless conveyer, such as an endless belt or other suitable endless carrier. In machines of such general character it is usual to drive the endless conveyer from one or both of the rear supporting-wheels of the machine, the more common way being to elfect the travel of the endless conveyer by a belt-driving roll or a shaft provided with chain-wheels for certain chains included in the endless conveyor, and to drive such roll or shaft from both of the rear supportingwheels of the machine through the medium of either a jointed shaft or an endless driving-chain or link belt subject to connection with the rear axle through the medium of various arrangements of gearing. In such instances it has been common to place the rear wheels loose upon a rotary axle and to provide in connection with said wheels and axle suitable pawl-and-ratchet devices so arranged as to lock the wheels upon the axle during the advancement of the machine, but to permit the pawls to ride over the ratchets during backing of the machine, so that when turning or swinging the machine around to either the right or left the wheel nearest the turning corner could back, while the opposite wheel could run ahead, so as to travel along the circle described in turning. Pawl-andratchet devices for such purposes in heavy grading and ditching machines are liable to get out of order, and, since the work of roadmaking usually takes the machine to localities remote from repair shops, the repair-ment of the pawl-and-ratchet devices frequently involves great expense and serious loss of time.

A prominent object of my invention is to dispense altogether with such pawlandratchet devices in a grading and ditching machine and to provide the machine with simplified and more reliable means for attaining the ends sought for by the employment, of pawls and ratchets.

In certain grading and ditching machines it has been customary to suspend a plow at one side of the machine and to provide, in connection with the plow, an elevator equipped with an endless soil-conveying belt or apron and arranged so as to extend both under the bodyframe and considerably beyond one side of the same, so that in road-making the conveyer-belt could receive the soil at the plow side of the machine and then deliver the same at the opposite side of the machine, in which way the point of delivery could be made at any proper height and as remote from the plow as might be, desired.

Indriving the endless co'nveyer-belt from the rear wheels it has in some instances been proposed to take the driving-power either from the rear supporting-wheel that is at the plow side of the machine or from the axle at apoint adjacent to such wheel; but more commonly the power has been taken either from the rear wheel at the delivery side of the machine or from the axle at a point adjacent to said wheel. I regard, however, an arrangement for taking the power from the axle at a point adjacent to the rear wheel at the plow side of the machine as the best, in view of the fact that the long heavy extension prion of the elevator is at the opposite side of the machine, and hence that by so taking the power from the plow side of the machine the strain is better distributed and the machine is better balanced.

A further object of my invention is to provide improved means for taking the power from the plow side of the machine and driving the conveyer-belt through the medium of power-transmitting devices that are primarily operated from the axle at a point adjacent to the plow side of the machine.

To the attainment of the foregoing and other useful ends my invention consists in matters hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a top plan view of so much of a grading and ditching machine as is necessary to illustrate my invention. Fig. 2 represents in elevation a portion of the rear end of the machine, and shows in section a box or casing for the miter-gears by which'the opposing ends of the two sections of a divided rear axle are connected together. Fig. 3 represents a vertical section taken through said box or casing, miter-gears, and portions of the axlesections, the plane of said section being coincident with the axis of the rear axle. Fig. 4 is a section taken transversely through Fig. 3 on line 4 4..

In said drawings, A indicates a wheeled body-frame, which maybe of any ordinary or preferred construction suitable for a grading and ditching machine. The elevator B may likewise be of any ordinary or suitable construction, and may be provided with an endless belt or conveyer, Z), of any known or preferred construction and arrangement, so long as it subserves the purpose'of an elevatingconveyer adapted for service in a grading and ditching machine.

The plow C may be suspended in any ordinary or suitable way, and when located, as herein illustrated, at one side of the machine the elevator will be extended under the wheeled body-frame and out from one side thereof for the usual purpose.

The rear supporting -'wheels, a, are fixed upon the rear axle, D, which latter is divided transversely at its middle, so as to resolve it into two separate lengths or sections, d and cl. One of said axle sections is therefore rigid with one of the rear wheels, while the remaining axle-section is rigid with the remaining rear wheel.

The two portions of the divided axle are connected together at the point of division through the medium of a couple of oppositely-arranged miter-gears, E, and one or more miter-gears, F, that are arranged intermediate of and in engagement with the miter-gears E. The two miter-gears E are secured, respectively, upon one and the other of the two portions or sections of the divided axle, while the miter gear or gears F is or are pivoted upon a hub or collar, f, which is arranged about the axis of the divided axle, but not connected with the same. In order to support this hub e, the inner ends of the axlesections d and d are extended into said hub or collar, as in Fig. 3, which said hub is therefore loosely mounted upon the inner end portions of the axle-section, which meet one another within the hub. The hub which thus surrounds the axle at this point of division is preferably provided with two miter-gears, F, although but one miter-gear could be employed for connecting together the mitergears that are fixed upon the axle-section. The foregoing construction of connection between the aXle-sections is concealed within and hence protected by a box or casing, G, which may be clipped or otherwise secured to the lower bars, a, of the rear bolster or other part of the body-frame at such point, and said box or casing is provided with end bearings, e, for the axle-sections, as herein illustrated. By such arrangement the two sections of the divided axle will during the advancement of the machine be rigidly locked together through the medium of said gears. Should, however, in turning the machine one of the rear wheels have a tendency to back during progression of the opposite rear wheel, the backing of one of said Wheels will be permitted, since in such case the beveled miter-gear upon its allotted axle-section will turn in a direction contrary to the rotation of the miter-gear upon the axle-section allotted to the opposite rear wheel,-the intermediate mitergears, F, in such case being turned about their pivots by reason of the oppositely-revolving miter-gears E.

By the foregoing arrangement I am enabled to dispense with the use of pawls and ratchets, and also to effectively exclude dirt from the devices employed to permit one rear wheel to turn in one direction while the remaining rear wheel is turning in an opposite direct-ion. In connection with said arrangement .,the power for driving the elevating-conveyer may be taken from either rear wheel or from either of the two sections of the divided axle by means of any ordinary or suitable power-transmitting mechanism. I

.As' a simple and desirable arrangement of devices for taking the power from the axle at a point near the rear wheel-that is, at the plow side of the 1nachine-the axle-section d is herein provided with a comparatively large chain-wheel, H, for an endless drive-chain, I, which serves to connect said chain-wheel with a smaller chain-wheel,'K. The chain-wheel K is herein fixed upon a rotary shaft, L, carrying a chain wheel or sprocket, M, for the chain or link belt N, that is employed for operating the endless-ending elevating-conveyer in any ordinary or suitable way, it being observed that a suitable clutch, P, is desirably arranged upon the rotary shaft L, whereby the chain wheel or sprocket M may be connected with or be permitted to run loose upon said shaft. At the points where the drivechain I leaves the chain-wheel I'I said drivechain passes to a suitable extent about the idler-pulleys q, arranged upon arms Q, that are fixed upon lower bolster-bar, a, or other like portion of the main body-frame, in which way the drive-chain will at all times be properly guided to and from the chain-wheel H. As a preferred arrangement of arms Q they can be formed with or rigidly secured upon a hub or box, g, which also serves as a bearing wherein the axle-section cl can turn.

The axle-sections may pass through any suitable arrangement of boxes-for example, the boxes R, secured to the rear bolster, or to stands or standards in rigid connection with the rear bolster.

WVith regard to the statements hereinbefore made, to the effect that in some instances the elevating-conveyer has been driven from one or both rear wheels and in others from the axle, it will be understood that in all cases the power is first derived from either or both of the rear wheels, there being, however, various modes of driving from one or both wheels. Thus in some instances one wheel has been provided with a gear engaging a gear of a power-tran smitting device, while in others the wheels are looked upon the axle during the advancement of the machine and the power derived from both wheels through the medium of the gear of a power-transmitting device engaging a gear fixed upon the axle.

It is herein distinctly understood that in connection with the divided axle and mitergears I may employ any suitable power-transmitting mechanism for operating the conveyer from one or both of said rear wheels, and that such power-transmitting mechanism may be the driving-chain or any of the remaining devices for such purpose hereinbefore set forth, or any other suitable or desirable power-transmitting mechanism.

hat I claim as my invention is 1. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, with an ordinary or suitable elevating conveyer in a grading and ditching machine and an ordinary or suitable power-transmitting device for operating the elevating-conveyer from one or both rear supporting-Wheels, of the rear wheels fixed upon a transversely-divided axle and a connection between the independent sections of the divided axle, consisting of a couple of miter gears, one fixed on each axle-section, and one or more intermediate miter-gears connecting together the miter-gears that are rigid with the axle, and a revolving support carrying the intermediate miter gear or gears and arranged independent of the axle, for the purpose described.

2. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, with an ordinar or suitable elevating-conveyer in a grading and ditching machine and an ordinary or suitable power-transmitting device for operating the elevating-conveyer from the rear wheels, of the rear wheels fixed upon a divided axle, the mitergears E, rigid with the independent axle-sections, one or more intermediate mitergears, F, carried by a hub or collar, f, and engaging the miter-gears that are rigid with the axle, said hubf being arranged upon but i11- dependent of the meeting ends of the independent axle-sections, for the purpose described.

3. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, with an ordinary or suitable elevating conveyer in a grading and ditching machine and an ordinary or suitable power-transmitting device for operating the elevating-conveyer from one or both of the rear wheels, of the rear wheels fixed upon a divided axle, the miter-gears E, fixed upon the axle-sections, one or more intermediate gears, F, mounted independently of the axle, and a stationary box inclosing all of said mitergears.

et. In a grading and ditching machine, the combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, with an ordinary or suitable elevatingconveyer, of the rear wheels fixed upon a divided axle having its independent sectiongears connected through the medium of the miter-gears E and F, a chain-wheel fixed upon one axle-section, and a drive-chain operated by said chain-wheel and connected with the elevating-conveyer in any ordinary or suit able way, for the purpose described.

JOHN B. GAviNi \Vitnesses:

CHAS. G. PAGE, L. L. PAGE. 

